Subtle Diplomatic Manipulation! 
Or how to improve relations between India and Iran by getting Jawaher Lal Nehru to visit Iran?

By H. Hakimi
Oslo, 2003

In spite of the atrocities committed by Sultan Mahmoud Qaznavi, Nader Shah Afshar and the adverse propaganda of the British Raj against Iranians, the relationship between Iranian and Indian nations remained very cordial, thanks mainly to the Moghol, or as sometimes called by Indians Mughal,- in reality Turco-Iranian, Emperors who ruled over India for some two centuries. Persian was the language of the court in India before it was replaced by English. The long history of the relations between the two nations is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice to say that the excellent relations between Indians and Persians continued up until the Independence of India from the colonial rule of the British Raj.

After Independence however a number of ultra leftwing personalities took over senior administrative positions in Indian Government. The most vociferous of them all was Krishna Menon the Defense Minister, along with Indra Ghandy, Jawaher Lal Nehru’s daughter. With the Left or as some would say Ultra-Left in power, the friendly attitude of the Indian administration toward Iran started turning 180 degrees, bringing the two nations to the brink of animosity. All of a sudden the Persians turned into bad guys! 

Unfortunately the new Indian unfriendly attitude towards Iran adversely affected bilateral trade established for centuries, to the disadvantage of both nations. The malevolence of Indian Authorities differed in the provinces according to the Left’s influence in each state. In states where the Left was in majority, such as Bengal, Karalla, New Delhi, the situation was worst. 

The Left was particularly strong in Bengal. The extreme poverty and immense size of the population had created fertile ground for the leftwing extremists and they had taken over the administration of Bengal. The animosity of local authorities towards Iranians was so intense that the Iranian Government had become concerned about the gravity of the situation. In 1956 after insistence of our nationals in Calcutta, almost all of whom were tea traders, the Iranian Government decided to open a Consulate General in that city.

I was chosen to do the job despite being too young and inexperienced till someone more experienced could take over. The situation was grave and there was no option but to tackle the problem head on. As the acting Consul General in Calcutta, I had to resort to some rather undiplomatic methods to help our nationals whom were maltreated by local authorities. I will refer to this part of my service another time. I spent a year as the acting Consul General in Calcutta. My four year assignment abroad was then completed and I was recalled to Tehran. I handed the affairs of the Consulate General to a much more experienced colleague, Kamran Dolatshahi.

In a year that I was stationed in the Foreign Ministry in Tehran, I became Deputy Chief of the 5th Political Department responsible for our relations with the countries east of Iran, which included Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Japan, and Hong Kong. We had yet to establish direct diplomatic relation with other newly independent nations of Southeast Asia.

My immediate boss was Tahmoures Adamiat, a strange and unusual career diplomat who seldom attended to his duties, with the result that I was the only one in the department that had to mingle with the diplomats of the above mentioned countries stationed in Tehran.

There was a First Secretary in the Indian Embassy in Tehran who was a very likable person. His name was S. K. Sing. He was short, a bit chubby, well educated, full of humor and very understanding person. He was almost my age. We hit it off, socializing outside work and developed a long lasting close personal friendship. 

After a year In Tehran I volunteered to for a post back to India. I was given the job of First Secretary in charge of Economic and Press Section of our Embassy in New Delhi. The Ambassador was Moshfegh Kazemi. My very dear friend & mentor Ahmad Mirfenderesky was in charge of Political Affairs. I learned a lot from him. He also gave me a nickname Sparky (هاشم برقی) because of my hobbies. 

To deal with a hostile Indian press was not easy. Without exception almost all Indian press were busy criticizing our government for whatever we did. Our policy was to ignore their criticism. One of the most daring publications belonged to Krishna Menon the Defense Minister, a well known communist sympathizer. He published a periodical which looked exactly like the U.S. Time magazine, same size and format, called Link. The difference was the content which was shamelessly jingoistic. When it was not criticising western nations it was outright abusive towards other Asian governments including Iran. It has a persistent ultra leftwing agenda, often more propaganda than fact. I found it hard that the Embassy did not bother to answer or to object. One day the Link magazine went simply too far. In an article which as usual criticized our policy they had split the title of the head of our state in a derogatory way. They had written (Shah-in-Shah) instead of Shahanshah. It was the last straw for me and I could no longer keep quiet. 

I called the editor’s office and very politely invited him to pay a visit to me in my office. Within two days I had the editor in my office. I received him with utmost diplomatic courtesy. After the preliminaries were over, I asked the editor, if he read or wrote Urdu. He affirmed that he did. Then I continued to say that, as you are very well aware this Embassy had never questioned your criticism of the policies of our Government, but you have passed the line of journalistic ethic by attacking the person of our head of state. Then I showed him the published article. 

I added that I agreed with him one hundred percent that the press in our country was not free as the Indian press. But that meant that we could instruct our press to do whatever the government felt necessary. In this particular case, I was thinking of suggesting to our government to take leaf out of your book by splitting the name of your beloved Prime Minister Mr. Nehru into two parts and write it this way (نه رو). I put the Persian text in front of him and asked: “Is it not clear what it means if Mr. Nehru’s name is split this way? You are well aware that to a Persian reader can take at least two meanings from the name split in this manner. It is can read either as a BARE FACED MAN or as a MAN WITH NINE FACES! Which do you prefer?”

The Editor jolted from his seat and said” This cannot be”. I replied of course it could, as he knew better than anyone having often commented on the state of our press. He thought for a moment and assured me that this kind of a thing will never happen again. I advised him that they were of course free to write whatever they please about anything or anybody in our country but to keep the standards of civility towards our head of state. He left a bit shaken but did not seem worse for the experience. 

Though I was satisfied winning one battle but the war was going on. One day to my delight and surprise my old dear Indian friend of Teheran, S. K. Sing showed up in my office. We kissed and hugged, both joyful of having the chance to rekindle our old friendship. 

Once again we kept in close touch with each other. One day S. K. Sing informed me that apart from his duties in the Indian Foreign Office, he often met the Prime Minister at breakfast and briefed him about the realities of Iran. It occurred to me this was the best opportunity to arrange for Mr. Nehru to pay a visit to Iran. I confided in Sing that I was very disheartened that relations between the two governments were allowed to deteriorate.

He, S. K. Sing, could help change it. I told Sing I was positive if Mr. Nehru met the Shah, the two statesmen would find they had a lot in common, with the result that relations could change overnight. The President of India – Mr. Chowdry - was scheduled to pay an official visit to Tehran but we both knew that it would be just another meaningless ceremonial trip. It would not bear any fruit, nor would it bring the impetus to improve relations between the two countries. I suggested that He was in a unique position with the Prime Minister to encourage him to use the standing invitation to pay a visit to Teheran in place of the President.

S. K. Sing bought the idea promising he would do his best to persuade the Prime Minister Nehru to go to Teheran. We agreed to keep affair to ourselves till the last moment. I did not inform either my Ambassador or my trusted friend Ahmad Mirfenderesky of our small conspiracy. 

About two months passed when one day S. K. Sing called me to his office. He joyfully informed me that Prime Minister Nehru had decided to come to Teheran in place of the President. Since we were both certain of a favorable result we were both jumping for joy. S. K. Sing informed me that within two days an official note from the Foreign Ministry would be sent to Embassy concerning the change of plan. I invited S. K. Sing for dinner to my house so that together we could plan the itinerary of the Prime Minister’s visit to Teheran and his entourage later that evening. I insisted that Indra Ghandi should accompany her father as well as the editor of Link Magazine. S.K. Sing asked about the significance of including the editor of Link, and I told him about what the Link had done.

I then rushed back to the Embassy to break the news to the Ambassador and other colleagues. The Ambassador would not believe my story till two days later when the official note from the Indian Foreign Ministry arrived confirming what I had told him.

It was a matter of joy to be in the Airport to see Mr. Nehru and Indira Ghandi take off to Teheran. As S. K. Sing and I had predicted, after Mr. Nehru and his entourage came back from Tehran their attitude towards Iran had completely changed. S. K. Sing informed me that Mr. Nehru was very much impressed by the personality of His Majesty Mohamad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Consequently the behaviour of Indian Authorities towards Iran and Iranians changed for the better. Furthermore the tone of Indian press changed favourably. After a few days I was surprised to be paid a visit by none other than the editor of Link Magazine. He had been told by S. K. Sing that I was behind the proposal to include him in the entourage of Mr. Nehru. He wanted to extend his gratitude.

Indra Ghandy wrote an article in Link praising what she had witnessed but in the last sentence she could not help a small sting. She wrote that every thing was fine in Iran except the health care system did not cover every body, forgetting that it was (and still is) very difficult to make health care universally available, neither was it universally available in India. 

But the important result was the change in the attitude of Indian authorities towards Iran. As for me, after two years in New Delhi (1962), I fell out with the Ambassador. I asked for a transfer and was assigned as a First Secretary to our mission in Belgrade capital of Yugoslavia as it was then.

From the Left
Ahmad Mirfendereski, Mrs.Firouzmand, 
Nehru, 
Hashem Hakimi, Maloo Hakimi